The Sporting Kansas City Academy will continue its 2016-17 Generation adidas Cup campaign at 1:30 p.m. CT Thursday against Real Salt Lake at Toyota Soccer Center in Frisco, Texas.
After finishing in fourth place in Group B of the top-flight Champions Division — featuring the best U-17 teams from across the globe — Sporting Kansas City will play two consolation matches to wrap up the tournament, facing RSL on Thursday and an opponent yet to be determined on Saturday. Follow @SKCAcademy on Twitter for live updates.
The Generation adidas Cup group stage ran from Friday to Tuesday as Sporting Kansas City fell to LA Galaxy, German club Eintracht Frankfurt and group winner Flamengo from Brazil. Sunday’s narrow, 1-0 defeat to Frankfurt was followed by a 3-1 loss to Flamengo in which Max Rugova headed home a corner kick from Mason Visconti.
The Champions Division consists of 16 elite academy clubs separated into four groups of four. Each group winner has advanced to Thursday’s semifinals, where the New York Red Bulls will battle Flamengo and Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle will meet River Plate of Argentina. The remaining 12 teams will play a pair of consolation matches against sides from outside their respective groups.
All 2016-17 Generation adidas Cup participants who didn't qualify for the Champions Division instead competed in the Premier Division, which is also unfolding in Frisco this week. Sporting Kansas City joined the tournament's upper echelon by virtue of a strong GA Cup qualifying campaign in the Central Region, which was held from Oct. 7-10 and Feb. 17-20.
Below is the list of 20 Sporting KC players on the current Generation adidas Cup roster. Five squad members — Grayson Barber, Gianluca Busio, Cameron Duke, Max Rugova and Mason Visconti — have played with U.S. youth national teams over the past year, while Abdu Kikhia has represented Libya at the youth level.
Sporting KC Generation adidas Cup Roster
<strong>Player</strong> |
<strong>Age</strong> |
<strong>Birthdate</strong> |
Gada Ambo |
16 |
12/02/00 |
Grayson Barber |
16 |
05/03/00 |
Alex Brown |
16 |
04/21/00 |
Gianluca Busio |
14 |
05/28/02 |
Sebastian Cruz |
16 |
07/31/00 |
Cameron Duke |
16 |
02/13/01 |
Ryan Fessler |
16 |
03/08/01 |
Dontell Gilyard |
16 |
08/02/00 |
Colin Innes |
17 |
03/17/00 |
Sean Karani |
16 |
12/14/00 |
Abdu Kikhia |
16 |
05/22/00 |
Isaac McGinnis |
17 |
04/05/00 |
Massimo McGuire |
16 |
08/30/00 |
Antonio Melendez |
17 |
01/07/00 |
Jony Munoz |
15 |
11/08/01 |
Jahon Rad |
15 |
06/13/01 |
Kyle Reese |
17 |
02/28/00 |
Max Rugova |
17 |
02/17/00 |
Max Trejo |
15 |
04/10/02 |
Mason Visconti |
16 |
06/10/00 |
